


Whispers of Hope

by snowflight



Category: Purple Hyacinth (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, Kieran Hates Himself, Lauren Realizes Things, Light Angst, Post season finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:21:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23868934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowflight/pseuds/snowflight
Summary: How dare he,is Lauren's first thought, and it hits her with a pang of hot, angry bitterness. How dare he. How dare he say that so naturally—soeasily—when he brutally slaughtered dozens of people days ago. When he did that to her in the cave. When he said himself how much of a monster he is, how heartless and remorseless he is—He’s not lying.She takes in a sharp inhale and freezes.(Some things that weren't expressed in person make themselves known through other means.)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 104





	Whispers of Hope

It’s never polite to eavesdrop on someone, whether it be a friend or a stranger. And if said eavesdropping includes secretly listening in on a conversation between your own co-workers while on office grounds, that’s both impolite and  _ “unprofessional,” _ as Hermann would probably put it.

On one of his good days.

_ “Completely unacceptable, you embarrassed our entire precinct, you are getting demoted right now,” _ on his bad days.

The point being, Lauren already has enough reasons  _ not  _ to do anything that could be considered unacceptable on her job. She definitely doesn’t have a good history with...  _ unprofessional  _ behavior. And eavesdropping on her co-workers in the office building? Maybe a bit too risky for her already-fragile reputation—especially when she can just go on with her day and mind her own business like a nice, proper citizen.

But maybe she can make an exception sometimes. And maybe one of those times is now, when one of these “co-workers” is actually her ex-accomplice, most definitely an infiltrator, and literally one of the deadliest, most wanted criminals in the city.

Lauren’s trip to the archive room was supposed to be simple: go inside, grab the document she needed, and finish the paperwork she came to the office early today for. After almost getting strangled to death, finally confronting Tim _ fucking  _ Sake again after he went missing for a year, and then getting knocked unconscious in an alleyway, she has to admit that she’s been slightly neglecting her paperwork duties in the past forty-eight hours.

But her attempt at completing even the first step of this trip is ruined when she notices that the door to the archive room is ajar and hears voices from inside—a bit odd, considering how early it is.

“This shelf here is for anything within the last ten years.” A familiar voice. It belongs to one of the long-time archivists of the 11th Precinct. “Over there is for materials over ten years old.”

“I see.” A second voice. “Thank you.” It’s cool and low, and although it’s lacking the dark, dangerous edge it had a few days ago, Lauren recognizes it with ease.

Her hand curls into a fist, and her fingernails gouge into her palm. Of course. Job training for the new  _ archivist.  _ Kieran was introduced to the office just yesterday, after all. It’s not surprising that he’s getting some guidance on his new position.

Something inside her that lets out a dark chuckle at this situation. The most feared, loathsome assassin in the city is right here, being  _ trained.  _ Listening so politely and responding so attentively—like some kind of eager, nervous student attending his first day of class. 

He can probably murder his “teacher” before the scream is heard.

Lauren grits her teeth, mentally shaking away that image. He won’t do anything like that—not here, at least. Killing someone now would just be counterproductive to his cover. She lets this thought comfort her a bit, but the uneasiness writhing inside her makes her continue hovering by the door.

The clatter of wheels and metal sound from the room as the archivist continues talking. “We use this to transport recent relevant materials throughout the building.”

There’s a pause, followed by the ruffling of paper and Kieran’s voice. “And these...”

“Oh, these are the documents we collected for the prison tower massacre. Preparation for our investigation into the case,” the archivist says. “But it’s going to end up as a cold case, as always. Just like all of our other investigations of the Purple Hyacinth.”

“The Purple Hyacinth,” Kieran echoes. 

“Working here, you’ll soon learn that any information we have on him is practically useless.” The archivist lets out a sigh edged with frustration. “He brutally slaughters his victims, then disappears without any trace. We’ve barely collected any usable evidence on him in the seven years he’s been active. I’m starting to believe that he’s more of some kind of monster than a human.”

“Well, only a monster could murder so many people so ruthlessly.” Kieran’s tone is completely level, betraying no emotion. Lauren almost wants to kick the door open to see if his expression is as infuriatingly composed and unassuming as his voice is. 

It probably is.

“And I don’t understand why King Phillip refuses to bring back the death penalty—even with the massacre that just happened.” The archivist’s voice is accompanied by the thud of boxes. “Some criminals just shouldn’t be kept alive.”

“Especially the Purple Hyacinth,” Kieran says. “After everything he’s done, he doesn’t deserve to live.”

A bolt of fury pierces Lauren.

_ How dare he,  _ is her first thought, and it hits her with a pang of hot, angry bitterness. How dare he. How dare he say that so naturally—so  _ easily— _ when he brutally slaughtered dozens of people days ago. When he did  _ that  _ to her in the cave. When he said himself how much of a monster he is, how  _ heartless and remorseless he is—  _

_ He’s not lying. _

She takes in a sharp inhale and freezes.

“Exactly,” the archivist says. “Of all criminals, you’d think that the Purple Hyacinth, at very least, deserves the death penalty to make up for his crimes.”

There’s a pause, and then Kieran says, “I suppose.” He lets out a small sound that almost sounds like a chuckle, but there’s no humor in his voice. “But at this point, I don’t think there’s anything he can do to redeem himself for what he’s done.”

_ “I once carved a man’s heart out of his chest and mailed it to his loved ones.” _

_ “Murdered an entire family, sat their corpses up in the living room.” _

_ “I could strangle you with my bare hands and not shed a single tear.” _

_ But he’s not lying,  _ that small part of her mind tells her again.

Lauren takes in another sharp inhale, her shock forming a cold twist inside her.

The sound of boxes being slid across the floor fills the room.

“Perhaps,” the archivist says. “But let’s just hope he gets caught soon. For the sake of innocent people like you and me.”

“...Yeah.  **The innocent people like us.”**

The archivist begins explaining something else relating to the archives, and their voices fade into the distance as Lauren finally decides to turn around and head back to the office. A part of her realizes that she didn’t even retrieve the required document yet, but the rest of her doesn’t care anymore.

_ He wasn’t lying.  _ The thought pounds in her head like an endless echo. 

She sees cold blue eyes glint at her through darkness and feels fingers close around her throat in a painful, merciless grip. She hears the snarl of a monster reverberating off the cave walls.

And once again, panic clutches her heart. Anger stirs in her chest. But now she feels something new forming inside her—a fragile bubble trying to rise in this dark, wrathful, storming ocean. Something that feels like the first faint whispers of hope.

_ “After everything he’s done, he doesn’t deserve to live.” _

_ “I don’t think there’s anything he can do to redeem himself for what he’s done.” _

_ He wasn’t lying. _

Maybe this monster does have a heart, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> .  
> .  
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> .  
> .  
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> .  
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> .  
> Wow I actually struggled with this a lot. I tried really hard to make sure I was characterizing both Lauren and Kieran properly, so I spent a ton of time trying to figure out exactly how to write them in this scene--especially Lauren, with her thoughts and feelings in the narration. I think it turned out pretty nice though, but any feedback or thoughts will always be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!
> 
>  _Some thank-yous:_  
>  This fic was based off of an idea from someone in a group chat so a big thank you to them for the idea.  
> A big thank you to my friend @Qumack on Discord for giving me feedback and editing 100 times as I wrote this.  
> Thank you to Cecily for tearing up from reading this. I felt bad but also _very_ happy. Sorry not sorry :))  
> And finally, shoutout to the Ducklings for always being so encouraging, and to the server for all the crackhead energy and chaos that somehow was also motivating.


End file.
